1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus such as a server or a personal computer, a storage media supporting device which can be inserted into and ejected from the information processing apparatus, and to and from which storage media such as hard disk drives can be inserted and ejected, and a method of changing an identifier which is provided in the storage media supporting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the recent advancement of information society, some information processing apparatuses such as servers or personal computers have become capable of housing a plurality of storage media such as hard disk drives. Namely, an information processing apparatus capable of housing a plurality of storage media has been developed so as to deal with an increase in the amount of data to be processed, or to construct a RAID (Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks) system to thereby respond to addition of a data backup function of automatically recovering data on a defective storage medium on a spare storage medium using redundant data and automatically copying the recovered data on the spare storage medium to another storage medium.
The information processing apparatus capable of housing a plurality of storage media is provided with a mechanism for inserting and ejecting the plurality of storage media into and from the information processing apparatus, so that the plurality of storage media can be stored even outside the information processing apparatus. This makes it possible to safely store a larger amount of data or a wider variety of data.
To store a plurality of storage media, which has been removed from the information processing apparatus capable of housing a plurality of storage media, outside the information processing apparatus, it is necessary to manage the plurality of storage media with the contents of data stored therein identified, but conventionally, the storage media are separately managed according to e.g. respective labels attached thereto.
Also, a hard disk device which is removably attached to an information processing apparatus has been conventionally proposed (refer to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2001-291312).
However, in a system realized by cooperation between a plurality of storage media, such as the above-mentioned RAID system, if a plurality of storage media are stored and managed outside an information processing apparatus, storing the storage media with respective identifiers provided thereon is not effective in terms of management.
This is because a plurality of storage media realized by cooperation with each other should be stored with their combination or combinations being maintained even outside the information processing apparatus, and it is more effective to manage the combination of the storage media according to an identifier or identifiers provided on the combination or combinations. Also, data created by different OSs (operating systems) can be easily managed if they are stored and identified according to the combinations of the OSs and the data.
Further, in the above described conventional method in which storage media are stored and managed according to respective identifiers such as labels attached thereto, data stored in the storage medium cannot be detected or discriminated before the storage media stored and managed outside the information processing apparatus are inserted into and activated in the information processing apparatus. Therefore, it is impossible to prepare in advance a starting process (i.e. a process for starting the information processing apparatus and starting reading data from and/or writing data into the storage media) suitable for the data stored in the storage media.
Further, the above conventional RAID system is incorporated in advance into the main body of an information processing apparatus, but there has also been proposed a RAID system in which a plurality of storage media are configured as a unit, and collectively attached to and removed from the main body of an information processing apparatus. In this RAID system, the storage media can be easily attached and removed, and effectively managed even off-line outside the main body of the information processing apparatus (refer to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. H11-282636, for example).
Further, since the above conventional RAID system is arranged such that a plurality of storage media back up data for each other, and hence the storage media constituting the RAID system must be capable of normally operating, and it is necessary to immediately replace defective storage media. If defective storage media are left as they are, information stored in the RAID system may not be read out. Therefore, a RAID system has been proposed which is configured such that if there is any defective storage medium among a plurality of storage media, the defective storage medium removably connected to a data path by a failure determining means is released, and is protruded from the front face of the housing of the information processing apparatus by an urging means (refer to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. H10-198527, for example). Thus, this RAID system facilitates replacement by identifying a defective storage medium among a plurality of storage media which can be removably attached to the information processing apparatus.
In the former RAID system disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. H11-282636, when the presence of a defective storage medium is detected among a plurality of storage media incorporated in a removable unit intended to collectively attach/remove the storage media to/from the information processing apparatus, a user has to know failure information and know the location of the defective storage medium via a display means such as a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) provided in the information processing apparatus, since there is no means for displaying failure information. In this case, if the location where the removable unit is housed in the information processing apparatus is away from the location of the display means such as a CRT, or if the display means cannot be seen when the removable unit is ejected from the information processing apparatus, the user has to identify and eject the defective storage medium by following his/her memory of the location of the defective storage medium indicated by the display means, and therefore, in many cases, he/she ejects and discards a non-defective storage medium without ejecting defective storage medium due to selection error caused by memory slip.
Also, in the latter RAID system disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. H10-198527, an actuator such as an electromagnet releases a defective storage medium from a hook via which it is hooked to the housing, so that the defective storage medium is removed. Therefore, to remove a specific storage medium among a plurality of storage media, it is necessary to carry out such a complex operation that the electromagnetic is activated to release the storage medium from the hook. Furthermore, to remove and store storage media in a safe place so as to ensure security, it is necessary to repeatedly release the storage media from hooks a number of times corresponding to the number of storage media. Further, when it is impossible to release a defective storage medium due to a failure in a controller for the RAID system, the defective storage medium is forced to be left in the state of being hooked. The same problem arises when it is impossible to start the RAID system due to e.g. blackout. Further, if a plurality of storage media realized by cooperation with each other are separately stored, there is the possibility that some storage media are mixed up with other storage media.
Further, the former RAID system has a problem as below if the removable unit is stored in the state removed from the information processing apparatus, or if a plurality of users share the removable unit. Specifically, since a plurality of removable storage media are housed in the removable unit, the entire removable unit may malfunction when some of the storage media are removed from the removable unit due to theft or loss, or other unexpected storage media are attached to the removable unit, or the positions of storage media in the removable unit are changed. If a physical key is provided for the removable unit so as to address this problem, a large number of physical keys must be prepared if a large number of removable units are used in e.g. a company, and this complicates management of removable units. Further, if a cover with an electronic lock is attached to an information processing apparatus as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2000-194448, a removable unit must be stored and managed in the state attached to the information processing apparatus, and this raises a problem in terms of information security.